Villanova University

July 28, 2010

The Nova Notebook, by director of media relations Mike Sheridan, features sophomore guard Maalik Wayns in this installment.

For an athlete who has always moved at warp speed, 2009-10 was a lesson in patience.

From his earliest days on the basketball court in Philadelphia, Maalik Wayns, blessed with a terrific first step, fast hands and quick feet, had been a focal point of every team he had played on. As a point guard, he charted a steady rise to excellence at Roman Catholic High School and by the time he reached his junior season, the kind of national prominence that would ultimately see him named a McDonald's All-American and Pennsylvania Player of the Year.

At Villanova, though, he entered a program fresh off an NCAA Final Four appearance with two elite point guards already in place - first team All-American Scottie Reynolds and 2009 BIG EAST Sixth Man of the Year Corey Fisher. In an era when the notion of top-shelf athletes waiting their turn seems to belong aside wooden backboards, Wayns was in the background more than he ever had been before.

"It was a big adjustment," says Wayns during a break from summer session classes. "My whole life I have been a starter or playing the whole game. Coming in and playing in spurts was different for me. I tried to give my best to it and by the end of the season I was pretty caught on to it."

It was a transition all of the members of the celebrated 2009 Villanova recruiting crop made as the Wildcats boasted a roster that went 11-deep. That the team spent the season ranked among the top 10 in both major polls suggests that Wayns and classmates Isaiah Armwood, Dominic Cheek and Mouphtaou Yarou handled their roles with aplomb.

"I think we all adjusted pretty well," says Wayns, whose force of personality helped make that impressive recruiting haul a reality in the fall of 2008. "People really haven't seen what Mouph can do yet because of his illness. But I think all of us played significant roles on a team that was one of the top teams in the country as freshmen."

Act two, of course, comes in 2010-11 and presents an entirely different set of circumstances. Reynolds and Reggie Redding have graduated and there is an onus on the sophomores to take a substantial step forward if the Wildcats are to again be a force in the BIG EAST Conference. It's a circumstance Wayns anticipated and is already embracing.

These days, he is on campus with the rest of his mates, enrolled in summer school and counting the days until mid-November. In many ways, Wayns is fine tuning the lessons learned during his year of apprenticeship.

The '09-10 season offered glimpses of what the coaching staff envisions for Wayns. The guard - who politely points out that his height is now 6-2 - enjoyed a dynamite stretch in early January, helping lift Villanova past Marquette with 16 points in the BIG EAST Conference opener and earning BIG EAST Rookie of the Week honors three times. Yet his production and minutes dipped in February.

"I had the ups and downs every freshman has," Wayns notes, "but overall I think I had a pretty good first season. It was a real learning experience. You really can't see the progress you've made from your freshman year to your sophomore season until you've played your sophomore year."

Wayns finished with a strong effort in the NCAA Tournament, making his first collegiate start in the win over Robert Morris and providing a major second half lift (10 points) for the Wildcats as they attempted to rally against St. Mary's in the second round. In the end he completed the campaign with a 6.8 ppg average and a spot on the BIG EAST All-Rookie unit.

He also watched and listened to every move Reynolds and Fisher made. On road trips he was paired with the school's No. 2 all-time leading scorer and the freshman paid close attention to this mentor.

"I learned a lot from Scottie," he explains. "The big thing was just seeing his work ethic - the way he practiced and brought it to the court every day. He didn't take plays off. As my roommate on the road, I learned a lot from him off the court too.

"Fish also taught me so much. He's a great player and I can't wait to get the chance to play with him this year. We really didn't get a chance to do much of that last year."

Perhaps more than anyone on the roster, Fisher and Wayns will be at the forefront as Villanova looks to add to its image as the place where guards prosper in 2010-11. Each brings multiple skills to the court - passing, the ability to get into the lane, and long distance shooting accuracy. Both can handle the basketball or play without it and bring tenacity to the defensive end of the floor.

The year of experience figures to help Wayns in other ways as well.

"As a freshman, it's like you are playing on natural ability," he says. "Now I understand so much more about how hard you have to play at this level. The difference between where I was at this time last year and am right now is huge."

As it was for his teammates, the ending to Villanova's season has remained with Wayns. He recalls with clarity the disappointment etched on the faces of Reynolds, Redding and Russell Wooten inside that Dunkin Donuts Center locker room not long after Saint Mary's had ended their college careers. What's more, he has taken a thoughtful look back at the last six weeks of the campaign to ponder what changed as the Wildcats slipped out of the conference lead after 20 victories in their first 21 outings, including 10-0 in the league.

"I think for the younger guys, we were so used to winning that we didn't know what to make of it when started losing some games after that start," he says. "When we were 20-1, in our minds that's what was supposed to happen. We'd all won so many games in high school. So when we were hit with (adversity), we didn't know what to do. We were learning on the job.

"It's an experience that we didn't want to go through but we definitely learned from. We saw what it was like for our seniors to have their career end against St. Mary's, how tough that was for them. It's something none of us younger guys will forget."

That perspective is one reason no less a figure than Reynolds identified Wayns as one who could one day inherit the role he occupied as the face of the program.

"For Scottie to say that means a lot," Wayns says.

Reynolds won fans for his on-court exploits, which included 2,222 career points and the basket that lifted VU back to the Final Four in 2009. But also important was the way he carried himself as an ambassador for the university. Wayns offers some of those same qualities. Once the current crop of seniors, which includes Fisher, Corey Stokes and Antonio Pena, graduates next spring, Wayns' looms as the Wildcats' clear-cut leader.

"There won't be any seniors," he notes of 2011-12, "so our class will have to be ready and you don't just do that overnight. We have to back up Fish, Stokes and Tone and be sure we help them at all times this year."

Though Wayns has officially been a Wildcat for one year, he has a longer history with the program than that. As a high school sophomore he gave a verbal commitment to attend the university and held true to that word even as his high school career took off. He helped entice the likes of Cheek and Armwood to join the program and is very much at home as a student, even looking forward to Aug. 23 when the fall semester resumes and the campus trades its tranquil summer pace for the hectic rush of the school year.

"Villanova," he says, "is everything I thought it would be."

For Wayns, the apprenticeship, so rare in modern college basketball, has now concluded. The sophomore to be has added a dose of experience to go with that devastating first step and dribbling speed. Year two beckons and Wayns is only too eager to embrace it, new uniform number (No. 2) and all.

"I think we can be a great defensive team," he says. "We are very athletic and will be very exciting to watch.

"I can't wait for the season to get here."

The "Apprentice" is ready for his next task.